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Sustainable Agriculture Assistant

We are building a hands on learning model for volunteers/students to donate time and learn important skills to bring back to their lives and communities.
This volunteer program is especially suitable for:

Singles

Couples

Families

Groups

50+

Our program is created to provide a hands on educational model for visitors and volunteers to learn and experience the process of bio-intensive organic permaculture farming. The knowledge that will be offered to volunteers/students and visitors will help to combat issues that have come about due to modern industrial commercial farming. As we approach a world with very little farming soil left on the planet, struggling local economies, food and water shortages, this program will help to provide working solutions.

Our program, under the supervision of our directors and board, will be developed with the help of each and every volunteer/student who participates. Volunteers will work on a variety of projects, from basic infrastructure, to operating a bio-intensive organic farm; there will always be plenty to do. We will be adding ongoing research and experiments to determine and measure how we can do things better in the particular environment that our project is in. Additionally, this program will introduce various ideas such as creating community gardens and/or operate a successful, small, organic farming business. We also wish to introduce this concept to our own local community as well as having volunteers bring this know how back to their own lives and communities. We will be using various methods to build soil (composting, chicken farming, worm hotels, etc), planting methods to increase the health and output of the gardens and harvesting, food storage and seed conservation methods. The concept of self sustained permaculture living will be used throughout the project. Volunteers will help in all areas of developing and maintaining the project. If a volunteer has particular skills or interests, we are always happy to do our best to incorporate them into your experience!

Volunteers will be working with each other and our directors and farm assistants, depending upon the project. Volunteers will all contribute to meal prep, set up and clean up during meal times (together or on rotation, depending upon preference of the group). Daily work will depend upon which project is being worked on when the volunteers arrive. We will be building chicken coops, compost stations, seedling boxes and tables, worm farms, tool storage areas, garden bed preparations, planting, maintaining and harvesting. We will organize our work days the evening before during our after dinner meeting/seminar. All volunteers will be expected to clean up after themselves.

The farm itself is set in a beautiful environment with 360 degree amazing views. Volunteers will enjoy access to hours of hiking, right on the property. Creek and waterfall excursions, evening bonfires and more. 3 Healthy meals will be served daily and volunteers will sleep in our cute and colorful dorm rooms. A washer and clothesline will be available for use as will the volunteer kitchenette for storing and preparing optional additional beverages and snacks if you want to bring them along.

Typical day

A typical day can vary greatly at the project, depending upon whether we are building structures (sheds, chicken coops, worm hotels, etc.), working on volunteer activity areas (hiking trails, hang out spots), planting, preparing garden beds, harvesting, seeding, etc. There will be many opportunities. All volunteers will participate in meal preparations and clean ups. After breakfast, a few hours of farm work (any of the above mentioned items) will happen, depending upon which level of volunteering you are participating in (2 hour a day volunteers or 4 hour per day volunteers). The mid day meal will come around noon each day, then there is a possibility of light afternoon work for some volunteers and free time to hike, read, go horseback riding (horseback riding is available through our adjoining neighbor), swimming in the creeks or just relaxing with our amazing views. After the evening meal, we tend to have an optional educational gathering to watch instructional films, discuss various techniques and plan our days. We enjoy evening bonfires for an opportunity to relax and interact socially as well. Although internet service is not yet available in the beautiful rural area that the farm is situated, we do have some spotty cell signal and if you have a Costa Rica SIM card (easily accessible at the airport and many other local cell stores), you can use your data to check emails and such. There is wi-fi available in Puriscal and a stronger cell signal in the local pub about a kilometer away. We are working on getting an antenna to increase our own signal. Data is pretty reasonable in Costa Rica.

Details on Arrival

Start dates are flexible and when you arrive, we will give you a tour and orientation and go over details of which projects we are working on at the time in order to plan your participation.

Free-time activities

Hiking, exercise, swimming in the Cabradas, horseback riding, busing into the little city of Puriscal, relaxing and reading, bird and nature watching, bon fire gatherings. There are also national parks in the area and you can take a day or two excursions to area beaches (2 hours away), then return to the project.

Swimming

Sightseeing

Shopping/Souvenirs

Climbing

Hiking

Riding

Yoga/Meditation

Program Requirements

In order to join the program you need to be at least 18 years old on the program start date.
There might be exemptions if you can provide the permission of your legal guardian(s) or if your are accompanied by your parents.

Language Skills

You need to speak
English
(basic level)

Required Documents

We would like a statement from volunteers about any health challenges and/or limitations so that we are aware of issues and avoid causing any further health problems.

Nationality Restrictions

No restrictions. Helping hands from all over the world are welcome.

Other Skills

although gardening, agriculture, construction and permaculture skills are helpful, we are happy to train volunteers who are willing to help.

Time Commitment

Your helping hand will be required on
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Included Services

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On-site services

Services by Vista Hermosa Farm Project

This is the pricing for a full volunteer, which is 4 hours daily, 5 days per week plus participating in meal set up and clean up (everyone works together at meals). There are two levels of volunteering that we can offer for a higher fee. One is the light duty volunteer (2 hours daily, 5 days per week plus participating in meal set up and clean up) and visitor, in which you only participate in meal set up and clean up. The fees are mostly to cover costs of meals and accommodations with a small amount going to farm costs (equipment, etc).

Accommodation

We have two dorm rooms. Each has 3 comfortable bunk beds and a bathroom. Colorful, with tile floors, ceiling fans and nice breezes. The volunteer cabina also has a little kitchen where you can keep extra or special snacks and have use of the cooking facilities. There is a nice terrace overlooking the lovely fields with amazing mountain views. There is a dining table as well as seating on the terrace. There is also a little laundry room with a washer. In the main house, next door, there is a gathering room where films (both educational and fun) can be watched with our projector, games can be played or groups can just "hang out". We have a volunteer bon fire area not far from the dorms as well.

Dorm Room

Food & Beverages

Our meals will focus on either items that are growing or will grow on the farm in the future, in order to show how a completely independent, sustainable diet would look. Items such as homemade granola, traditional gallo pinto (beans and rice), a variety of nicely flavored vegetable and rice, curry and grain dishes, corn tortilla pizzas, pasta, fresh fruit and more. We will be raising chickens to aid in our fertilization and composting process, so fresh eggs will also be served regularly.

Internet Access

Sorry, no access at the project site

What's NOT included?

Visa, flights, travel insurance or vaccinations are NOT included in the program fees.
An airport pickup isn't included within the program fees either.

Flight Tickets

The nearest airport is Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in San Jose. We assist you to find cheap flights to Costa Rica.

You can volunteer at the project site in
Salitrales/Costa Rica
between
2
days
and
12
weeks.
Please note that the above shown program fees are estimated and subject to exchange rate fluctuations.
Vista Hermosa Farm Project
will let you know about the final price during your application process.

Crowdfunding Service

Generally, volunteering abroad involves certain costs. In case you need financial support, we will assist you to fundraise your volunteer program in Costa Rica.

The deposit is simply to reserve your volunteer placement. Payments are handled by PayPal, our trusted global payment provider.
If you don't have a PayPal account, you can also pay using a credit card.

Final Payment (85%)

Your final payment will be agreed with Vista Hermosa Farm Project during the application process.
Common solutions are either via bank transfer or a cash payment at the project site.

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